Westtown students choose to serve during MLK holiday

Staff Photo By Vinny Tennis
Courtney Kennedy, left, and Colbe Clarke load up packages at Stetson Middle School in West Chester on Monday, Jan. 21, 2013. Best Buddies at Stetson Middle School was the sponsor for the event and delivered the packed lunches to Safe Harbor for Martin Luther King Day of Caring project.

WESTTOWN – Despite a day off from class, students came to G.A. Stetson Middle School Monday to honor the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday with a day of service.

Sponsored by the Best Buddies program at Stetson, more than 125 students and their families gathered at Stetson Monday to prepare lunches for the residents of Safe Harbor of Chester County.

This was the second year students and faculty organized the event. Last year, Autistic Support Assistant Patti Smith and Instructional Assistant Ellen Ronayne got the idea of starting a community service project -- seeing as there was no current project at the school. They decided to pair it with the Best Buddies program and chose Safe Harbor as the benefactor from past experiences with the organization.

Smith said support for the project has doubled since last year.

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“This is exciting, it’s huge,” Smith said.

In all the students will prepare 140 lunches to be taken to Safe Harbor Monday and Tuesday. All bagged lunches were decorated by the students and include a handwritten note to the recipient.

Unlike last year, this year’s program was entirely funded by students who donated items and money to fuel the project.

“Last year we had some donations, but this year we opened it up to the school as a contest of who could bring in the most donations,” Ronayne said. “So not only did they supply the food that’s being donated they brought in like $700.”

To honor the student’s donations, paper handprints were signed and cut out to decorate the school cafeteria which was covered with names Monday.

“It was a whole school they did it,” Smith said.

In addition to Stetson students, Smith said other students from schools across the district asked to be a part of the project. Participants on Monday ranged from elementary students through high school.

Safe Harbor Executive Director Glenn Fricke said they were pleased to see the more than 15 children and their parents arrived at the organization Monday to deliver the lunches.

“They did a wonderful job,” Fricke said. “We are blessed to have kids like that doing these things.”

Fricke added that the lunches came at a great time as they had about 60 people at Safe Harbor’s location on Matlack Street Monday.

Safe Harbor is an independent, nonprofit organization that provides food, shelter, counseling and recovery opportunities for homeless men and women in Chester County.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a federal holiday first celebrated in 1986 and is held on the third Monday in January, around the time of the civil rights leader’s birthday, which is Jan. 15.

In the borough, children at St. Agnes Parish participated in the first youth day of service at St. Agnes Church in West Chester Monday, marking the holiday and feast day of the parish’s patron saint, St. Agnes.

More than 50 children gathered on the holiday to participate in various community service projects that included serving breakfast to the needy St. Agnes Day Room, writing letters to military officers and cleaning the church.

“This was a great opportunity for our parish children to put their faith into practice,” said Kelly Catania, East Bradford resident and volunteer coordinator for the Youth Day of Service. “And it’s a wonderful lesson in working together as a community to serve others.”

In addition, children teamed up with students from West Chester University to fill backpacks with school supplies to be delivered to inner city schools in Philadelphia.

About the Author

Jeremy Gerrard is the Daily Local News' reporter covering the West Chester area and local school district. Jeremy is a Chester County native and a graduate of Auburn University. Reach the author at jgerrard@dailylocal.com
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